. Literary pilgrimages of a naturalist. much as Thoreaupainted it. No chimney smoke rises in view fromits shore. No picnic pavilion disturbs its outlineor jangle of trolley echoes within its spaces. Thewoods grow tall all about it, and if they are morefrequented by men than in his day and less bywild creatures the casual visitor need hardly knowthe difference. The pond was low when he wroteof Walden. So it is now and the, same stones withwhich it was walled-in then pave the wide mar-gins to-day. You may walk all around it onthis crushed granite and note the sparkle ofplentiful mica in the pebb
. Literary pilgrimages of a naturalist. much as Thoreaupainted it. No chimney smoke rises in view fromits shore. No picnic pavilion disturbs its outlineor jangle of trolley echoes within its spaces. Thewoods grow tall all about it, and if they are morefrequented by men than in his day and less bywild creatures the casual visitor need hardly knowthe difference. The pond was low when he wroteof Walden. So it is now and the, same stones withwhich it was walled-in then pave the wide mar-gins to-day. You may walk all around it onthis crushed granite and note the sparkle ofplentiful mica in the pebbles. Near the beachwhere he took his morning swim is the tinymeadow which in the years of high water is a coveto be fished in. You may throw a stone across thismeadow cove and in any direction save at itsnarrow entrance from the pond you will hit tallwoods that in dense array lean lovingly over itand give it cool shadows except when the sun ishigh. Between the tall trees and the meadowgrasses grows the clethra, its white spikes of per-. Here is the cairn erected to his memory, to which with doffedhat you may well add a stone See pug* 6j THOREAUS WALDEN 67 fume seeming to make a lace collar all about theplace. In the bottom of this meadow grows muchthoroughwort, which is a plain, homely weed tothe passing glance, not considered fit for a gardennor thought to beautify a roadside as do so manyfairer pasture blooms. Yet its gray-white headsadd a soft friendliness to the coarse meadowgrasses and give delicacy to the whole place, seem-ing to invite invasion and preparing the invaderto find the more fragile flowers of the Gerardiatenui folia that nestles beneath it, its pink bellsset by some fairy bell-ringer of the dawn with mutethroats open toward the sky. The little enclosureis as deep as a well, stoned in by forest walls, and isbeloved of the argynnis butterflies whose spangledunderwings shine with the same silver as themica along the pond shore. Meadowsweet anda half dozen other
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booki, booksubjectnaturalhistory
